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Summary
Underground expectations
Writers and magazines between 1941 and 1945
During World War II a number of underground literary magazines appeared in die Netherlands, to which especially authors between eighteen and twenty-five years of age and hitherto unpublished were contributors. This led up to the formation of a number of circles of young writers which were to appear on the scene after the end of the war, and which would have a significant influence on the development of Dutch literature. This study offers documentation and describes the history of these magazines.
First the measures taken by the German occupation and those who collaborated with it with regard to literature are described. Of especial importance in this regard is the fact that in 1942 an organization was founded, the ‘Dutch Chamber of Culture’, which all artists - provided they were of non-Jewish descent - were invited to join. Those who had not joined would henceforth no longer be allowed to engage in artistic activities. The establishment of literary magazines fell under this rule.
Partially as a consequence of this and other measures, many literary magazines expired during the first years of the war. One of these was Criterium, considered the representative journal of the younger generation, the final number of which appeared in the spring of 1942. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the year 1942, the magazine De Schouw had been founded as the special organ of the ‘Dutch Chamber of Culture’.
During World War II the Netherlands witnessed a rich flowering of underground literature, amounting to more than a thousand titles. A distinction may be made between ‘illegal’ and ‘clandestine’ publications. ‘Illegal’ are those publications which were expressly directed against the German occupation and its ideas and acts, while ‘clandestine’ publications refer to those publications which appeared in the face of the prohibition. Of course, there were many differences and de-
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grees in this respect. In addition to the distinction between the terms ‘illegal’ and ‘clandestine’, this study will resort to the term ‘underground’ as overarching concept.
During the war more than twenty underground literary magazines were published, some of which will receive no further discussion, because they consisted largely of contributions in languages other than Dutch, or because their contributors failed to play a more or less important part in the Dutch literary circles after the war. The nine literary magazines where the opposite was the case will be discussed in separate chapters. These magazines are: De Schone Zakdoek, Lichting, Stijl, Maecenas, En Passant, Parade der Profeten, Overtocht, Podium and Zaans Groen.
The first magazine to receive attention in a separate chapter is De Schone Zakdoek, which appeared from April 1941 through March 1944. This monthly - after the spring of 1942: bimonthly - was founded by two young citizens of Utrecht, Gertrude Pape and Theo van Baaren. It was only published as one single copy, to be inspected during regular Monday-evening meetings at Gertrude Pape's. This magazine paid a great deal of attention to all sorts of Modernist movements at the beginning of this century, among which Surrealism took a large place. Expressions of this deep interest in Surrealism were the ‘cadavre exquis’ of which several were included in De Schone Zakdoek, the photographic collages, the Surrealist play ‘Rafflesia Arnoldi’ by Gertrude Pape, Theo van Baaren and L. Th. Lehmann and the short story ‘Pim en Mien’ by Cok Brinkman. In addition, the contributors to De Schone Zakdoek showed deep interest in ‘light verse’, amongst which limericks. Because so much emphasis was laid on experimentation, the contents of De Schone Zakdoek differed greatly from that of other contemporary literary magazines in the Netherlands. Especially the attention devoted to the irrational elements in art by the contributors to De Schone Zakdoek among whom L. Th. Lehmann, E. van Moerkerken, Chr.J. van Geel and C. Buddingh', was striking. In this respect the magazine presaged what would be advocated by the poets and painters who would form the ‘Movement of Fifty’ around the year 1950. In addition one may point out that the deep interest in ‘light verse’ went ahead of some tendencies which would manifest themselves around 1960 in the circle of writers around the magazine Barbarber.
In November 1942 the first issue of the mimeographed magazine for younger readers, entitled Lichting, founded by two university stu-
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dents, Gerrit Jan de Jongh and Theo Hondius, appeared in Amsterdam and Utrecht. The editors of this magazine, which was to appear in six issues until April 1943, aspired to become a literary elite which, after the ideal formulated by the Dutch writers Menno ter Braak and E. du Perron during the Thirties, would emphatically engage in social issues. Especially the attitude to be taken over against the German oppressor was considered of looming importance. Sharp criticism of the persecution of the Jews, which was reaching its zenith at that time, was expressed in a number of poems. With regard to aesthetics, Leo Frijda, one of the contributors, made a plea for a more irrational approach to literature; owing to this his opinions showed affinity with Surrealism. Among the other contributors were Gerrit Kouwenaar, of whom poetry influenced by Symbolism and a fragment of a short story were included, and Theo Joekes and Theo J. van der Wal. Upon the appear ance of the last issue of Lichting, Gerrit Kouwenaar and his brother, the painter David Kouwenaar, were arrested, as well as Hans Engelman, Gerrit Jan de Jongh and Theo J. van der Wal. Leo Frijda, who had also been part of the resistance group cs-6, was arrested as well, and executed in October 1943. Subsequently, in the middle of the month of November 1943, the trial of the contributors to Lichting took place: Gerrit Kouwenaar and Hans Engelman were sentenced to six months of imprisonment - with deduction of detention awaiting trial - and instantly released, while Gerrit Jan de Jongh was allowed to leave prison in the beginning of the year 1944.
Meanwhile the young public servant Willem Karel van Loon had founded a cultural circle in The Hague in the summer of 1943, which was especially intended for young people, and which published the first number of the mimeographed monthly Stijl in September 1943. This magazine published mainly poems and essays about all sorts of cultural subjects. When Stijl, in December 1943, after four issues, expired, Van Loon founded a new magazine, problably in April 1944, entitled Maecenas, to which, after some time, also Paul van 't Veer, Paul Rodenko, Olga Rodenko and Hans Warren began to contribute. Owing to these contributors, the magazine acquired a more literary character. Paul Rodenko's contributions show that he was already deeply interested in Surrealism during these years. When the seventh and final issue of Maecenas had appeared in January 1945, Van Loon founded the magazine En Passant of which issues appeared in the months of April andjune 1945, in addition. En Passant demonstrated its social and political concern more openly than Stijl or Maecenas.
Meanwhile the first mimeographed issue of the Utrecht magazine
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Parade der Profeten had appeared in the spring of 1944. This illustrated magazine, to which a number of Utrecht painters lent assistance, was edited by Jan Praas, Carla Scheidler and Ad. van Noppen. Parade der Profeten, which initially was only circulated among the former pupils of a Utrecht secondary school, soon attracted a large number of young writers, among whom Guillaume van der Graft (Willem Barnard), W.J. van der Molen, Willem Frederik Hermans, Ad den Besten and Rob Cijfer, who was to be executed in April 1945. In co-operation with Maecenas and the Limburg magazine Overtocht a substantial poetry number was published in the fall of 1944, to which almost fifty poets from various parts of the country contributed. After the liberation the thirteenth and final number of the magazine saw the light.
Shortly after the foundation of Parade der Profeten in May 1944, the first issue of the mimeographed magazine Overtocht appeared in Maastricht. This journal numbered among its contributors some young men who used to contribute to Stijl. Overtocht pleaded for a strong social commitment of the artist. It continued to appear after the liberation of Maastricht in September 1944, and from January 1945 it did so in printed form. After a total of eight issues, Overtocht expired in the spring of 1945.
At the end of June 1944, the first issue of the printed magazine Podium appeared in Leeuwarden. Its editorial board consisted of Corrie van der Noord, Gerrit Meinsma and Wim Hijmans. The first three issues consisted of poetry only, among which some poems of the older poet Hendrik de Vries and the parodic poem ‘Diewertje Diekema’, written by Kees Stip. In February 1945 Wim Hijmans, who was dissatisfied with the quality of the numbers which had appeared till then, decided to withdraw as editor. His successors were Fokke Sierksma, who had earlier played an important role in the background, and Pieter Kalma. Hijmans, on the other hand, was then involved in the establishment of the magazine De Distel, which, incidentally, would never see the light. At the beginning of June 1945, the fourth issue of Podium was published, which included not only poems, but also some essays, among which ‘Doelstelling’ by Fokke Sierksma, in which he put forth his notion of the place of literature in society. After the publication of the fourth issue, the group around De Distel decided to rejoin the Podium-group.
The last of the magazines to be discussed here - Zaans Groen - was established shortly before Christmas 1944 by the young poets Mart and Klaas Woudt, who had earlier contributed to the Parade der Profe-
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ten. Like Stijl, Zaans Groen was in the first place the medium of a cultural group. The magazine was printed and lavishly illustrated. The second number included an essay by the contributor Marcus Bakker, in which he offered critical commentary on the poetry which had been published in the first number, and demanded a more ‘antagonistic’ poetic stance. This essay generated a heated polemic in the circle around Zaans Groen. After the liberation a fourth number appeared, but this ended the existence of Zaans Groen.
More than two hundred authors contributed to the literary magazines discussed here, forty of whom were to play a more or less important role in post-war Dutch literature.
Surveying the contents of these underground magazines, it appears that with the exception of Overtocht, poetry made up the larger part. This poetry had both romantic as well as realistic characteristics, though the romantic element was predominant. Owing to this, this poetry showed strong affinity with the aesthetics of the young generation which around 1941 gathered around the magazine Criterium. In form the poems were as a rule traditional. An exception were those poems - written by contributors to De Schone Zakdoek, by Leo Frijda in Lichting and Paul Rodenko in Maecenas - in which the irrational element was predominant and which were, as a consequence, related to Surrealist poetry.
In narrative prose, which, however, constituted only a small part of the contents of the underground magazines, the romantic element was also more predominant than the realistic one.
Many essays in these underground publications presented a plea for the artist's solidarity with society, and hence for an active commitment to social issues. This idea fits in with the dream of an unified nation which was cherished by many underground activists during the war. With regard to the attitude taken toward the German occupation, one may conclude that Lichting, Podium and En Passant were ‘illegal’ and the others mostly ‘clandestine’. Meanwhile, both from resistance circles as well as from the younger poets themselves, the comment was heard that many younger authors demonstrated insufficient social engagement. Especially the question whether the poetry of ‘private happiness’ produced by many younger writers met the desire for more social engagement, generated a lively discussion in the circles of Parade der Profeten and Zaans Groen.
On the other hand the charge directed against the anecdotal character and the lack of social awareness in the poetry of the Criterium-poets
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was largely exaggerated. After all, the poetry of most younger authors showed the same characteristics.
The question arises to what extent these magazines for and by a younger generation prepared the way for post-war developments in Dutch literature, especially the rise of the ‘Movement of Fifty’. Without doubt artistic experimentation was an important feature of especially De Schone Zakdoek; and central in it - the interest in Surrealism was an expression of this - was the desire to heighten the irrational element, something which was also to characterize the ‘Movement of Fifty’. This predilection for the irrational, which, owing partly to the fact that De Schone Zakdoek had only a restricted distribution, remained largely hidden, would provide an important source of inspiration for the renewal of Dutch literature after World War II.
(Translation: Christel van Boheemen)
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